In USA Today bestselling author Janette Rallison’s delightful novella, JOB HAZARDS, Lydia Robinson is posing as a prostitute. Undercover of course. Lydia’s job as a police officer hasn’t reeled in her prince charming yet. That is, until Harrison Aldridge, old high school flame, pulls up to the corner to rescue the fallen damsel. Lydia can’t exactly give Harrison the truth without blowing her cover, and it takes a series of mishaps and another whole set of misunderstandings before Lydia will even consider letting Harrison back into her life.

In Heather B. Moore’s enchanting novella, A TASTE OF SUN, Winona Grant embarks on a summer-long visit to NYC to house-sit for her great-aunt after a nasty break-up with her boyfriend Paul. But when her aunt commissions neighbor Steve Monti to tour Winona around, they strike a deal. Winona has too many deadlines to play tourist, and Steve is looking for a distraction from his looming gallery opening. So Steve goes on the tours by himself, and Winona reports back to her aunt as if she’d gone too. The longer this happens, the more Winona wants to change her mind. Seeing the city with Steve might be the perfect solution to forgetting about Paul.

In Luisa Perkins’s sweet romance novella, DULCE DE LECHE, Marisol is desperate for another nanny job after being unfairly fired from her previous position. She has only two more semesters of college, but she’s too proud to ask her wealthy parents for financial help. When her potential new employer, a single father working long hours as an anesthesiologist, decides she’s too young and pretty to hire, she practically begs him for the job. Darius finally agrees, and as he watches her work miracles with his Asperger’s son, he realizes there is much more to Marisol than he first believed.

In TAKE A CHANCE, a captivating story by Sarah M. Eden, Miguel Santos has a stopover in New York. When the announcement of delayed flights comes over the PA system, Miguel is looking at spending several hours at the airport. Determined to get comfortable for the long wait, he’s surprised when he spies a familiar face amongst the stranded passengers: Jane Schoonenburg, the last person he expected to see. Three months have passed since he asked Jane to marry him—three months of misery. And now he knows that he must talk to her, if only to find out why she broke his heart.

Annette Lyon’s entrancing novella, FIRSTS AND LASTS, begins with Dani’s last week in New York. She’s failed in her dreams to catch a break as an actress and is now ready to return home and dust herself off. As she visits the places on her final to-see list, she meets Mark, another New York City transplant with big dreams. Except Mark hasn’t given up on his. As they spend the day together, Dani realizes that even though she hasn’t hit the “big time” she might be living her dream after all. Only problem: she has a one-way ticket back home.

In Lisa Mangum’s whimsically titled story: &, Lucy is riding a wave of success at having found a bestselling novel in the slush pile at an exclusive New York publishing house. If only her personal life was storybook perfect as well. Her relationship with Devon is on the rocks, and even though she's been put in charge of the house while her boss is gone on business, Lucy isn't sure she's up to the task. It will take a chance encounter with a handsome wordsmith to help Lucy claim the courage that has always been a part of her heart.

My Review

The Summer in New York Collection includes six short novellas, four of which from authors whose books I have loved, so I was really looking forward to reading this one. It did not disappoint. There was plenty of happy moments full of sighs and sweet kisses, tapered with some heartfelt struggles. My only complaint was that I wanted the stories, especially certain ones, to be longer. There were two reasons I wanted them to be longer. First, I wasn't ready for the stories to end. Second, I wanted more development for the romance in some of the stories so that it didn't feel like insta-love. These are all novellas though, and so of course they're going to be short.

JOB HAZARDS: I can't say I was surprised how Janette Rallison, who is known for her humor, had me laughing out loud from the beginning (you can read the very beginning of her novella below). It only gets more mortifying when the MC runs into an old flame while she's impersonating a hooker. How Janette comes up with these scenarios I don't know, but I do know that I love them every single time. Job Hazards was my favorite of this compilation, even though it also felt like the shortest of them all. I could have handled several more chapters.A TASTE OF SUN: This story was so adorably cute. There was some great sarcasm and wit when the two protagonists first meet and then begin to get to know one another. I loved how they developed a friendship that evolved into something more. I also loved the little tours of New York.DULCE DE LECHE: I loved Marisol's spunk and how she wielded her culture sometimes. (Her baking made me rather hungry.) I also admired her bravery and her fight in realizing her dream of finishing college, and doing so all on her own. She was great with the boys and with their father. The closing scene was really sweet.TAKE A CHANCE: I liked that there was no insta-love in this story. Instead you have two people who were formerly in love get stuck together at an airport and realize their love is still worth fighting for. It was fun to see what lengths Miguel would go to in order to earn back Jane's love and who else was willing to help. Another great read!FIRSTS AND LASTS: I loved how this one opened up and how the two MC's spent all this time together even knowing that Dani would be leaving. They had so much in common and really understood each other and built up their relationship from there. I loved the ending when Mark comes to say goodbye. I pretty much melted right there.&: I loved what the "and" stood for in this story. I loved the talk of books and words. I loved the laughter, the way that Lucy saw herself because of how Jesse saw her, the romantic moments, especially towards the end. Lisa was great in writing a bad guy who wasn't too bad, but definitely affected Lucy, and a quirky, but sweet good guy who definitely could make Lucy swoon.If you enjoy reading chick-lit or are looking for something quick to read that will give you the satisfaction that comes from a happily-ever-after ending, definitely grab the Summer in New Work Collection. It was fun, sweet, heartfelt, and swoon-worthy. Each novella definitely left a smile on my face.Content: Clean (There is some innuendo, but very sparse.)Source: From the tour host, which did not affect my review in any way.

Excerpt

Job Hazards
Janette Rallison

Chapter One

Fighting crime wasn’t supposed to involve wearing a leopard-print miniskirt, a silky halter top, and stiletto heels. Not once while Lydia Robinson was in the police academy a year ago had she envisioned that the job would land her on a seedy New York street posing as a hooker. But as Lieutenant Miner had told her a week ago after he called her into his office, “You’re a natural.”

A natural hooker? “Is that supposed to be a compliment?” she asked.

He held up his hands to stop her protest and nodded at the glass window of his office. Outside, two other female officers were talking about a case. Officer Loomis was fifty-two and had more wrinkles than a pile of forgotten laundry. Officer Dustin was seven months pregnant. “I just meant,” Lieutenant Miner said, “that you’re the best one in the department for the sting.”

So now Lydia stood on a dimly lit corner next to a row of bars and strip clubs. She wore so much makeup that she looked like she was part of a Broadway play. Her usually long, brown hair had been curled, teased and poofed. It was magazine-girl, notice-me hair. Half-a-bottle-of-hairspray hair.

There was something missing that I couldn't figure out, which is why it's not a full five stars, but then I went and read a blogger friend's review and she figured it out for me. The book needed to be a little longer so that some parts of the story could develop a little more. There is also one really violent part that was pretty horrific, but otherwise, I loved this one!! I'll be seeing the author later this month and I'm really excited about meeting her! :)

Yes, Liam! ;) He's such a great guy! I just love that even with all the darkness and violence there is still laughter and love. That's how a story should be told, at least that's what I relate to and love. We couldn't survive such a terrible thing without looking for hope or light somewhere. :)

I honestly just don't know. I am having a tough time between intelligence and telekinesis. Either would be amazing. I would definitely not care to have mind control, as cool as it seems on the surface I would not want to have that kind of control over other people. It would be too tempting sometimes, and that isn't okay.

I think I would want electrokinesis if I lived in TDM world! I wouldn't want to be an orange...or a red for obvious, spoiler reasons. But yellows can definitely put up a fight. They're not targeted AS much and can have a better control of their powers because they're not as strong as reds or oranges. And Zuuuuuu~ she's so cute! #teamgloves I loved In Time so much.

And Alexandra Bracken said that the color themes on the cover coincide with the psi group of an especially important character (or psi group) in that book. In the Afterlight has lots of red and a focal point of yellow. SO EXCITED.

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About Tressa

Welcome to Wishful Endings! This is where I geek out about all things bookish (mostly YA, but also Romance, Christian Romance, LDS Romance, and occasionally other genres and hobby titles)! I always include content info in my reviews so you know what you're diving into. I enjoy helping publishers and authors promote their books as co-owner of Prism Book Tours. Outside of blogging, I'm a total Marvel geek, Austen lover, and enjoy hanging with the family (husband, four kiddos, and pup).

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